From Ruins We Spring Forth
by streetlightz
Summary: "Join me! We can have our old life back!" — "No! Let them rest. This is evil!" — "We'll be okay! Everything will be okay!" — "Stop this right now, darling!" — "You're no better than them. Leave!" Pure fiction, loosely related to Warband. Small amounts of the supernatural.


In the Kingdom of the Nords, in the village of Ruvar, there lived a courier, Caius. He worked from dawn 'till dusk, delivering letters for the nobility, or for peasants with enough money. It was hard work, the constant riding taking its toll on his body, but it paid well enough, earning him and his family the largest house in the village. Through many years of delivering letters, punctually and professionally, his local reputation was good and his record was spotless. If someone needed a letter delivered, he was the man you asked.

One day, King Ragnar declared a nationwide celebration, celebrating the birth of the new heir. Invitations were sent between all the nobles all across the Kingdom. There had never been an event like this, and the couriers' workloads were strained to breaking on this day. By the Gods, Caius had fifty letters to deliver in one day! He would do it, for his ever-faithful wife and his lovely daughter, he worked tirelessly.

By the twentieth letter of the day, he was pushing his horse to its limits. The sun had passed its zenith, and he had dozens of letters left to deliver. The spring weather and lovely smell of morning dew made the experience rather relaxing for his mind, even if his body was pushing itself to its limits.

A familiar face zoomed past his vision as he rode at lightning speed, "Hey, Caius! Do you have time–"

"Sorry, Rahn! Busy day, see you tomorrow!"

By the fortieth letter, the sun had begun to set, waves of red and orange hugging the horizon, a view he would've loved to enjoy with his wife and daughter on a day less hectic than this, but alas he had no time to look up, only forward at his path to the next recipient.

By the final letter, his horse ready to collapse, he waved to the guards of Alburq castle, who opened the gates for him. He steadily paced forward, dismounting when he got near the castle hall, going down the corridor and knocking on the third door to the right as detailed on the letter envelope.

"Hello, Miss. I've got this letter for you."

The noblewoman snatched the letter out of his hand and turned on the balls of her feet, slamming the door at his face. _A haughty one,_ the courier thought, then immediately dismissed it. Many nobles of Calradia acted like this. It was no new experience for the courier, quiet and serving even to these types of people.

Caius quietly began the journey back home. The journey was not long, and he trotted slowly beneath the darkening sky. The landscape of the Kingdom of the Nords was hilly and littered with small forests in various places. The trees were thin and the leaves were sparse, nothing compared to the thick forests of Swadia. The outskirts of Ruvar were surrounded by fields, tended to by farmers and herders. It was fall, with layers of orange dotting the landscape.

Caius caught sight of his friend, Rahn, as he and his family prepared for the festival during the night. Caius stopped by his friend's house, demounted, and then tied up his horse. His friend smiled as he approached him.

Rahn's convoy consisted of six oxen pulling a cart filled with the best of his yields for the year. Some squash, fine grain, butter, cheese, all delights to the tastebuds. Caius rode in front, alongside Rahn, who drove the oxen while his elderly parents and siblings sat on the cart. Caius proceeded to tell Rahn about his hectic workday while Rahn's family chatted away at the back.

As they rode into town they were greeted by the excited chit-chat of the townspeople. The village of Ruvar had never been so lively. In fact, according to some, the village of Ruvar was flourishing. The streets were packed with kids running about and music filled the air. Caius and Rahn arrived the village centre to unload their items. The cornucopia was already filled to the brim with various kinds of grains and vegetables.

As people gathered around to gaze in awe at Rahn's convoy, Caius broke away as he spotted his wife and his daughter standing around the giant cauldron that had been erected to cook the stew. His wife, along with a few others, were busy carrying firewood from the lumberjack's hut to feed the enormous fire that heated the cauldron. Meanwhile his daughter followed the example of the women as she gathered leaves and branches from the floor and threw them into the fire.

He approached them and smiled, "Hey, what have you been up to?"

His daughter Isabelle grinned as she saw the return of his father, "isn't it obvious father? We're preparing the fire for the feast. Mother said that the fire is going to be so big that it's gonna get the attention of all the gods!"

He laughed, "I'm sure it will, sweetheart. Maybe the gods will see your impressive fire and come down to you."

"Really?" Isabelle was gleaming, "I wonder what kind of powers I'll get, hopefully I get the kind that lets me create anything I want. Then I can build us a castle and our family could live as nobility!"

Caius chuckled at his daughter's fantasies. He followed her to the bakery, where her friends were gathered.

There were two boys and one girl huddled behind the baker's shop. One of the boys and the girl were the blacksmith's twins. They had thick curly brown hair falling freely to their shoulders and hazel brown eyes. Despite being different genders, it was still almost impossible to tell them apart based on their appearance. Standing next to the arguing twins was a upright, two-legged, bull. The tailor's son was known to have two functions: eat and sleep. Despite being only ten, he weighed more than two average adults and had the strength of five. The day grew dark, and as Caius watched his daughter and her friends playing in the dirt, a satisfactory expression came across his face.

The pleasant smell of cooking travelled miles away. The villagers gathered around the long tables in the middle of the village, dishes brought in by the young boys and girls. The tables were set, and Caius took his place, with his wife and daughter on either side of him, and Rahn across from him. As everyone dug into their meals, laughter, joy, and a general sense of contentedness made everyone friends for the night.

"Hello sweetie," his wife started, "What kept you so long? You and Rahn almost missed the feast."

"A long day. The King decreed a national holiday, for the birth of his heir, or something like that. It doesn't matter to us," Caius shrugged. "Regardless, the nobles have been inviting everybody under the sun, and I'm the only half-decent courier around her, so I've been carrying damn near all the letters."

"It must've been tiring."

"Yes, it was. I was considering missing the feast to come back at a slower pace, to give my horse a rest, but I decided I'd rather be here with you."

Caius was about to lean into his wife for a kiss when their moment was disrupted by a disturbing sound coming from across the table. Startled, both Caius and his wife looked up to see Rahn's family shamelessly having a belching contest, each belch louder than the last. The couple let out a nervous giggle in light of the awkward situation that they were in.

After the main course was finished, everyone lined up in front of the giant cauldron for some warm stew. To everyone's delight, there was enough stew to go around that people could drink as much as they wanted. However; rarely did anyone drink more than two bowls, save for the tailor's son, who was in a corner chugging down literal buckets, for there was the long awaited annual fall dance that included the participation of pretty much every single person in the village.

Many of the women returned home after the meal to change into something nicer for the rest of their evening. As people lined up on the dance floor, the musicians were already in full swing. The cheery music carried the couples, kids, and elderly around the dance floor like autumn leaves waving in the gentle wind. To everyone's surprise, the stars of the night were none other than Rahn's parents. They were well above their seventies, yet their agile feet and synchronized movements suggested that they were fresh out of their teens.

Caius looked around for his daughter, and sure enough, his daughter was with her group of friends, which had grown to include many more people. They had their hands linked, formed a large circle, and spun to the beat of the tune. Caius then gestured to his wife, who was now in a beautiful periwinkle dress instead of the bland maroon robe she'd worn earlier to the feast. The sight took Caius by surprise; she no longer looked like the woman that had been with him for over a decade. Instead, her appearance now reminded him of the girl he'd first fallen in love with.

Caius smiled at the sight, "My love, would you join me for a dance tonight?" He extended his hand towards his wife as a sign of invitation, as if he was a noble knight asking for the hand of a princess.

His wife giggled, "Of course, I'd love to!" The couple was gleaming with joy, joy for the success of their marriage, joy for their growing daughter, joy for their comfortable home, and joy for their peaceful and content lives.

However, before Caius and his wife reached the centre of the dance floor, an alarmed scream tore through the festivities of the village, "Bandits! They're coming!"

Panic spread throughout the village like wildfire. Caius stood there with his wife, shocked by the turn of events, when his wife approached him and said, "I'm taking Isabelle back to our home." She hesitated for a second while holding onto her husband's, "I know you are going to have to fight them, but please, don't put yourself in too much danger, run away when you have to!" Caius gave her wife a weak smile and she let go, hurrying toward her daughter.

Caius looked around and wondered what was going on. All the men were running in different directions, with some of them wielding crude weapons, boar spears, hunting bows, and lumber axes. He noticed that a bunch of people were gathered around the blacksmith's shop, taking hammers, chisels, and various other tools to act as weapons. A pair of arguing voices in the corner grabbed Caius's attention. He approached the pair and saw Rahn arguing with his younger brother.

"Listen Fred! You're fifteen! You got your whole life in front of you. Don't throw it away for some misplaced sense of duty. Plus, you weigh like twenty pounds!"

"If not now, then when? I've wanted to enlist ever since I was twelve. If we lose this fight, you know what will happen to the village. I'll die regardless," The little boy looked more determined than ever. "I'll be sure to take at least five down–"

Before Fred could finish his sentence, Rahn swung his fists towards Fred's temple and knocked him unconscious. Rahn then lifted his brother and slung him over his shoulder. Caius realized that he'd been eavesdropping for a while now and called out to his friend. He mused to himself that Rahn could be overprotective at times.

 _If I had a brother that age, what would I do?_

Snapping out of his thoughts, he noticed that Rahn's mood had recovered quickly from the earlier fight with his brother.

"Hey Caius," his friend then whispered under his breath, "geez, what a mess, I never thought they would actually come here, on such a great day as well..."

"What do you suppose we do, Rahn?" Caius asked.

"We fight them off of course, it's like my brother said," Rahn smiled, "if we lose, everyone dies."

Caius shuddered at the reality of what was going on. He knew what it was like to have death follow his every footstep. However, it had been a while since he was accustomed to it. He looked at Rahn's unconscious brother lying across his brother's shoulder.

 _Rahn was right, he really would've been useless in a fight._

Rahn adjusted his brother into a more comfortable position. He talked in a matter-of-factly tone, "We're going to the village centre; the rest of my family is already waiting there. I need to drop this idiot off with my old man so he doesn't get killed. The village has a tiny armoury in the village centre as well; meanwhile, you can get something to fight with."

Caius and Rahn quickened up their pace and walked towards the village centre. The streets were deserted, save for the few other men who were also headed their way. The tension in the air was palpable. It was an uncanny feeling, the village being this quiet.

As they approached, the village centre came into view, it wasn't big, around three quarters acre. It had originally been an observation post in the war against the Vaegirs, which meant it was atop a hill and fully surrounded by palisades with a fortified gate — a mini-fortress. The pair approached the gate and hailed the guard, who opened the gate.

As the gate opened, they were surrounded by the chatter of was a total of around one hundred and fifty men gathered around. The villagers were all armed to different degrees. The best off were the four blacksmith's sons, armoured in full chainmail and wielding swords and shields, no doubt their own handywork. The worst off being Caius, with a boar spear and a cracked buckler. After obtaining some weapons, Caius waited along the others for orders. While Rahn was being chastised by his father for his rough treatment of his brother, Caius saw the eldest son of the blacksmith sitting beside him. He was around the same age as him, and Caius greeted him promptly, asking, "Mike, was it? Do you know what's going on here? I mean, how are we gonna drive off the bandits?"

Mike gave a nervous laugh, "Drive off the bandits? Don't be absurd, we'd be lucky if we can survive the night. Our main objective is to hold out until the main force of Jarl Irya arrives." He continued, "Considering we are at war with the Swadians right now, who knows how long that'll take? We're stationed here for the time being, since we don't have enough people to defend the village from all sides. Instead, we will concentrate our forces by moving to meet our opponents from whichever direction they decide to attack from. That's plan A anyways."

Caius nodded his head in understanding "Well, I see–"

"What's plan B?" Rahn quickly interjected into the conversation.

Mike chuckled, "Well, plan B is simple enough: we just evacuate everyone to the village centre. This ol' fort withstood the mightiest of the Vaegir assaults, so repelling some bandits would be no big deal. And plus, with the fall harvest that just came in, we can sustain everyone until they die of old age!"

Caius shook his head in exasperation, "This is no time for jokes, Mike. Surely, doing that would mean that the entire village will be razed to the ground."

"Well, at least we'll be alive?" Rahn said with a chuckle. "Be more grateful Caius, most villages don't have the privileges we have here."

"Well, I guess so," Caius said dejectedly.

While the trio was engrossed with their conversation, the village elder quickly noted the new arrivals and signalled for Rahn.

"Get on the tower kid," he gestured towards the watchtower standing besides the gate. "We need as many eyes and as much firepower up there as possible."

"Right away sir!" Rahn stood up and walked towards the watchtower, he turned towards Caius and smiled. "If you don't make it out alive, your wife is surely gonna kill me."

"And you Caius..." the authoritative voice of the village elder boomed acroosed the village centre. Caius's body quickly jolted towards him.

"Ye..yes sir?" Caius replied.

"You're the fastest and most reliable runner here, throw away the shit you're carrying, it's all unnecessary weight. We can see everything that goes on from the watchtower. However, the people that are fighting in the streets will be completely oblivious to the enemies' actions on the other side of town. We need you to courier information to and from the village centre to the front lines, got that?"

"Yes, sir!" Caius replied.

As if almost on cue a yell came from the village hunter. "They're mobilizing!" He laughed. "Just about time as well, I haven't had so much prey to kill in my entire life. My quiver usually only holds ten arrows, but I brought five hundred for this occasion!" He proudly thumped a box beneath his feet.

The village centre was filled by the sound of clanging metal as the militia formed into tight ranks. The defence force of Ruvar was split into two groups. One group consisted of one hundred and twenty men, the other roughly thirty. The main group was led by the village elder's brother, their numbers allowing them to hold wide passageways. Their tactic was to block the road with a line of infantry carrying shields, with farmers behind them, skilled with pitchforks to pierce anyone foolish enough to leave themselves open while hacking at the shieldbearers in front. The other, smaller group consisting of thirty men, was led by Mike and his brothers. The group included butchers, former thieves, swordplay enthusiasts, and others with any hint of combat experience. These people preferred to take on their enemy one on one, as skirmishers. Their main task was to ensure the effectiveness of the main force by keeping mongrels off their flanks and rear.

As the main force set forth for battle, Caius quietly sat by the gate of the village centre, waiting for orders. Just minutes later, Rahn's father came with orders from the village elder: Caius was instructed to go around the village, telling the women, young, and elderly to bring food and valuables, and take refuge in the village centre, as soon the village streets would be filled with bloodshed.

Caius approached his house situated on the outskirts of the village, drenched in sweat from the constant running. If it was not for the bandits amassed outside, waiting to slaughter everyone, this would be his usual homecoming from a long day of work. He opened the door to absolute silence, and Caius's heart stopped. His wife had always greeted him when he came home. She couldn't have been — Caius stopped, and then laughed. Of course she wouldn't welcome him home, there was no way for her to know it was him. After all, what if it had been a bandit that had broken in? He internally applauded his wife for her intelligence and called out, "Margret? Isabelle? It's me, father is home!"

Silence.

Panic began to boil in Caius's blood: _It can't be._

"Margret? Isabelle?" Caius yelled, each time more desperate than the last. "Margret! Isabelle! Answer me! Where are you hiding?"

Caius was now panting, his body shivering, cold sweat flowing down his back. Caius searched throughout his house, looking for his wife and daughter. He smashed open every door, cabinet, closet, cupboard, but his family was nowhere to be found. Caius dropped kneeling down on his kitchen floor as screams of frustration escaped his throat.

Meanwhile, back at the village centre, another wave of bandits attacked, in the opposite direction of the first attack. Mike's force was promptly dispatched to deal with them. Rahn sighed as he let loose another arrow towards the bandits. _Huh, I missed._

"C'mon lassie, if you keep missing like that you might as well as save your arrows for me," Sneered the hunter as he let loose two arrows at same time, falling two enemies in one go. "Speaking of which, where's your courier boy buddy? We'll be downright sad if a third wave of enemies come and the guys fighting at the front don't know nothin' about it."


End file.
